Demetrius can spend as much as `\$50` on shirts.

To determine how many shirts Demetrius can buy without exceeding his budget of $50, we can set up the following equation:

The cost of one shirt is $16. Let \( s \) be the number of shirts he buys. The total cost can be expressed as:

\[ \text{Total cost} = 16s \]

Since he has a budget of $50, we set up the inequality:

\[ 16s \leq 50 \]

Now, we can solve for \( s \):

\[ s \leq \frac{50}{16} \]

Calculating the right side:

\[ \frac{50}{16} = 3.125 \]

Since \( s \) must be a whole number (you can't buy a fraction of a shirt), we take the largest whole number less than or equal to \( 3.125 \). Thus:

\[ s \leq 3 \]

This means Demetrius can buy a maximum of 3 shirts.

To verify:

• The cost for 3 shirts: \( 3 \times 16 = 48 \) dollars, which is within his budget of $50.
• The cost for 4 shirts: \( 4 \times 16 = 64 \) dollars, which exceeds his budget.

So, the conclusion is that Demetrius can buy up to 3 shirts.

Apologies for the confusion! To clarify, let's look at the inequality we set up earlier:

We found:

\[ 16s \leq 50 \]

This means that the expression \( 16s \) is less than or equal to \( 50 \). Therefore, the total cost of the shirts is smaller than or equal to \( 50 \).

So, the answer is:

The total cost is less than or equal to $50.

To restate:

• The budget Demetrius has is greater than the total cost for 3 shirts (which is $48).
• The cost of 4 shirts ($64) is greater than his budget.

Again, thank you for your patience! Is there anything else you need?